Bernice Moran Miller Collection

Bernice Moran Miller in front of sign
Bernice Moran Miller, in Hobby hat and overcoat, stands beside a sign reading "No Males Allowed" on a building at Lowry Field in Colorado, Spring 1943.
Bernice Moran Miller in overcoat
Bernice Moran Miller wearing WAAC enlisted olive drab overcoat and Hobby hat outside facility in Des Moines, Iowa, in late 1942.
Bernice Moran Miller outside WAC facility
Bernice Moran Miller stands outside the brick, arched entrance to the home used by the WAC in Dayton, Ohio, wearing enlisted off-duty dress and matching garrison cap, circa 1944.
Bernice Moran Miller shoveling coal
Bernice Moran Miller shovels coal at Felts Field, Washington, in 1943, wearing herringbone twill one-piece coveralls and fatigue hat. Back of photo reads "For Aunt Alma, Spokane, Wash. 1943"
Bernice Moran Miller with camera
Portrait of Bernice Moran Miller posing with a camera, probably taken while she was at photography school at Lowry Field, Colorado, in 1943. Miller is wearing the WAC enlisted olive drab winter uniform and olive drab garrison cap.
Oral history interview with Bernice Moran Miller
Miller primarily discusses her military service, especially as a member of the 2nd Mapping Squadron " Miller details caring for her invalid mother as a child; difficulty of finding a job during the Depression; listening to speeches from Europe in the early 1930s; boarding with a woman whose son she later married; and her parents' deaths. " Topics related to World War II include trying to join the WAAC as an officer, but being denied; a cold winter during basic training; advantages of being older than most recruits; men enlisting in the WAAC; failing a "dot and dash" test; being respected and harassed by different soldiers; traveling with soldiers and sailors and competition between the services; mapping the United States for defensive reasons; planes outfitted with cameras; a civilian party in Colorado Springs; WAC friends, including Elsie Ribiero; a commanding officer who didn't believe women should outrank men; being a corporal for only one day before being made a sergeant; working with Germans to analyze photographs of German factories; advantages of her military service; showing her slip to a sailor; hiding civilian clothes during inspections; her opinion of women in combat positions; and World War II atrocities. Other topics include her post-war teaching career and her extensive travels.
Two WACs play in sand
WACs Bernice Moran Miller and Elsie Ribiero play in the sand at Peterson Field, Colorado Springs, in 1943. Behind them, mattresses are draped over a wooden fence.
WAC parade on V-J Day
Panoramic view of WACs in formation on V-J Day, probably at Wright-Patterson Field in Dayton, Ohio, on August 15, 1945.
WAC unit at Lowry Field,1943.
Group photo of a WAC unit, probably photography school graduates, with male commander at Lowry Field, Denver, Colorado, in 1943. Bernice Moran Miller is in the top row, last on the right.